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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28964676">The Wolf and the Fox</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/eriah211/pseuds/eriah211'>eriah211</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Primeval</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Tragedy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Ghosts, Halloween, Haunted Houses, Hurt/Comfort, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:54:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,959</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28964676</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/eriah211/pseuds/eriah211</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After a stressful week, Lester and Ryan go away for the weekend, but the relaxing trip doesn't go exactly as planned.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James Lester/Tom Ryan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Wolf and the Fox</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you very much to the lovely fredbassett for the beta and the suggestions. Any remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone. <br/>Halloween fic, again written around Halloween, but finished much later (still sooner than last year).<br/>Previously posted on Livejournal.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>The week had been chaotic and nerve-racking like never before.<br/><br/>It had started with a meeting with the minister that had gone even worse than usual and it had been followed by an anomaly alert with civilian casualties that had been almost impossible to conceal from the public. In the end, Jenny had managed to twist some arms and call in some favours so it wouldn’t be the breaking news on every network, but it had been a close call.<br/><br/>By Thursday evening, Lester’s patience had already run out and he still had a budget meeting the next day, so it was difficult to keep his cool while Cutter and Connor explained how they had ruined some parts of Kensington Gardens while herding some creatures back through an anomaly.<br/><br/>Lester was holding a pen with both hands and was trying very hard not yell at them, but he was so tense that when Connor started enthusiastically explaining the creature’s mating habits, he squeezed the pen so hard it cracked in half.<br/><br/>The ink splattered over his desk and much to his horror, also over his suit. Cutter looked amused, Ryan worried and Connor a bit scared.</p>
<p>After a moment of strained silence, Lester quietly ordered everybody to get out of his office and they probably saw something on his face that convinced them it was better to leave without a word, because they all did, as quickly as they could.<br/><br/>Ryan came back some time later, just as Lester was finishing changing into the spare suit he kept in his office in case of emergency. The soldier was already wearing his civilian clothes, which could only mean that his shift was already over.<br/><br/>“Bad week?” Ryan asked calmly.<br/><br/>“You could say that if you wanted to be polite,” Lester answered drily. “And it’s not over yet.”<br/><br/>“No time for dinner back at my place tonight then?” Ryan said, smiling softly.<br/><br/>That smile always did things to Lester. It had been surprising to find out that such a tough soldier could be so caring and gentle, and it had been even more surprising to see his affection directed at a sarcastic civil servant like himself. Lester wanted nothing more than to spend the night at Ryan’s place, but the budget meeting was going to be a difficult battle and he still had to check some numbers if he wanted to be ready for it.<br/><br/>“No, unfortunately,” Lester said with a sigh. “There’s a meeting tomorrow and I have some information at home I want to check.”<br/><br/>“OK, I understand,” Ryan replied calmly. “But tomorrow is Friday and luckily, I have the weekend off so you can make up for tonight by letting me choose what we do this weekend.”<br/><br/>“On Halloween?” Lester replied warily.<br/><br/>Ryan chuckled and eyed him with amusement. “Don’t worry, James, we won’t be near any Halloween parties. No screaming children and no costumes, I promise.”<br/><br/>Still smiling, Ryan got closer and leaned down to kiss him. Lester felt the tension in his shoulders immediately drain away and he melted into the kiss as his hands found their way to Ryan’s waist. The soldier hummed approvingly and his hand curled around the back of Lester’s neck, his fingers slowly caressing the hair there.<br/><br/>It was so good, just what he needed after such a shitty week, Lester thought. Then his mobile phone rang and his shoulders tensed so hard, so fast that it was a miracle that he didn’t give himself whiplash.<br/><br/>Lester pulled away to check his phone, his bad mood returning immediately at the sight of the name on the screen.<br/><br/>“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Ryan said as he started to walk away, taking that as his cue to leave Lester alone.<br/><br/>It wasn’t until much later that Lester realised with embarrassment that he hadn’t even said goodbye to Ryan before he had left the room.<br/><br/><br/></p>

<p></p><div>
  <p>***</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><p><br/>The next day, which he’d expected to be a nightmare, was in fact, full of nice surprises.<br/><br/>The first one came early, when a phone call first thing in the morning let Lester know that the budget meeting had been postponed.  The second one came late in the afternoon when Ryan came to his office to pick him up. He made sure Lester wasn’t taking work back home with him and when they got out of the ARC and into the soldier’s car, he saw a travel bag on the back seat.<br/><br/>“I’m going to drive to your flat so you can pack a few things,” Ryan told him before he could ask. “We’re going away just for the weekend so no need for too much luggage, but bring a good coat with you, it’s going to be cold there.”<br/><br/>“And where is ‘there’, exactly?” Lester asked raising an eyebrow.<br/><br/>“A nice place in South Yorkshire, as far away from any party as you could get this weekend,” Ryan said, smiling. “Jenny said the place doesn’t usually have many guests and they don’t allow parties of any kind.”<br/><br/>“Oh, Jenny helped you with this then?”<br/><br/>“She said you looked ready to start biting heads off and that you needed a break,” Ryan admitted as he started the car. “I asked her to help me find a nice place for the weekend and she happens to know the owner.”<br/><br/>Lester simply hummed as he let himself relax against the seat. Jenny’s assessment had been correct, as usual, but he wasn’t going to admit that. He would thank her for the weekend plan, though, once they were back. It certainly sounded like the perfect place to have a relaxing time away from the stress of the city.<br/><br/></p>

<p></p><div>
  <p>***</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><p>Lester didn’t realize he had fallen asleep until the moment he woke up to the sight of an old gate in front of the car.<br/><br/>After the quick visit to his flat, Lester had leaned against the car seat and had let the tension of the last days disappear slowly. He had listened to Ryan’s soothing voice as he told him about their weekend plans and had looked at the sights through the car window until he had finally fallen asleep.<br/><br/>The car stopping in front of the gate had probably been what had woken him up from the very long nap. Lester felt slightly embarrassed about having spent the whole journey sleeping, but he wasn’t going to pretend that he hadn’t needed it and Ryan, who was staring at him with an amused expression on his face, certainly looked like he didn’t mind.<br/><br/>“Is this the place?” Lester asked.<br/><br/>“Yes, they said they would leave the gate open for us so we could just drive all the way to the house,” Ryan said as he got out of the car.</p>
<p>It took him just a moment to push the gate open so they could drive through it and once they did it and had closed the gate behind them, they drove slowly towards the big house they could see at the end of the road.<br/><br/>The mansion was a large two-storey building whose facade was partially hidden by some thick climbing plants. A small garden surrounded the front of the house, but just before they got there, they noticed an open outbuilding that was clearly being used as a parking space so Ryan stopped there.  There were just two other cars inside of what had probably once been a stable or a cart store so Jenny had been right about the place not being crowded, Lester thought, as they walked towards the house with their bags.<br/><br/>When they reached the main entrance, they were greeted by a laconic old man who simply told them that they had been waiting for them and waved at them to follow him as he walked back into the house.<br/><br/>Once inside they were greeted in a impressive high-ceiling hall by a much more cheerful woman, not as old as the man, but still not too far away from retirement age.<br/><br/>“I’m Miss Dobson, I’m the cook and the housekeeper,” she said with a warm smile. “And this is Mr Fenton, who is in charge of almost everything else around here.”<br/><br/>She noticed the bags they were carrying and she apologized immediately. “We’re really sorry, usually young Thomas would be here to help the guests with their luggage, but he has some days off, as do a few other members of our staff this weekend.”<br/><br/>“Don’t worry, Miss Dobson, and thank you for having us here at such short notice, I hope it isn’t too much trouble,” Ryan replied, kindly.<br/><br/>“No, not at all, the place is mostly empty. It will be just you and a lovely couple that arrived this morning. This old house isn’t usually too crowded and anyway, people these days seem to look for other destinations on Halloween.”<br/><br/>“Fortunately for us, Miss Dobson,” Lester said, honestly. “Thank you very much for having us.”<br/><br/>They were offered a light late dinner, but first Mr Fenton showed them to their room so they could leave their bags and change if they wanted to. As the old man slowly climbed the stairs, he succinctly told him the story of the house and where they could find everything.<br/><br/>“Wildfell Manor was built in 1740 and has been the property of the Wakefield family for generations. After some necessary restorations and the modernization of the house, the property was opened to the public as a hotel a few years ago,” he reeled off in a monotonous tone. “There’s a library downstairs, on the left of the main stairwell. Beside it you’ll find the dining room, where we serve the meals. On the other side of the stairs are the kitchen and the staff rooms. You shouldn’t go into the kitchen unless you’re invited, it’s only for staff,” he explained. “But if you’re curious, I’m sure Miss Dobson will be happy to show you every detail of it if you ask her.”<br/><br/>They turned left and stopped on the far side of the corridor, in front of a beautifully carved wooden door.<br/><br/>“This is your room, there’s no key, but you can lock it from the inside if you want to. It has its own bathroom and a fireplace,” Mr Fenton said as he opened the door. “The other guests are staying on the other side of the corridor, far enough away so you all can have a nice and peaceful time.”<br/><br/>“Thank you, that’s very thoughtful,” Lester said, very pleased with the idea of not having possible noisy guests right on the other side of their wall.<br/><br/>“Breakfast is served between 8 and 10,” Mr Fenton warned them as he started turning around. “But there will probably be something ready if you go down sooner... or later. We aren’t very strict on that sort of thing around here.”<br/><br/>“Thank you for everything, Mr Fenton,” Ryan said to the man, who was already walking along the corridor with heavy steps.<br/><br/>The wood-panelled room was spacious and luxurious, with a big oak bed in the middle and a pair of leather armchairs by the wide window. As they stepped inside, Lester realised there was a fire already burning in the fireplace and the place was warm and cosy, ready for its guests.<br/><br/>“I’m sure ‘young Thomas’ is more cheerful when showing the place to their guests,” Lester said once they had closed the door behind them.<br/><br/>“Don’t be mean, the poor man had enough trouble breathing while going up the stairs at his age, let along talking,” Ryan replied.<br/><br/>“Now who’s being mean?”<br/><br/>“I wasn’t, the man looks really ancient!” Ryan defended himself.<br/><br/>Lester burst out laughing as he took out the phone from his pocket.<br/><br/>“Oh, no, no, no,” Ryan said, playfully reaching for the phone on Lester’s hand. “No work allowed this weekend. No work emails or calls.”<br/><br/>“Am I supposed to turn off the phone the whole weekend?” Lester asked, horrified.<br/><br/>“OK, maybe that won’t be necessary…” Ryan said with a smile. “As long as you promise me you won’t be checking it every five minutes.”<br/><br/>“I think I can manage that,” Lester agreed with a mischievous smile. “I might find some other things to keep me busy this weekend.”<br/><br/>“Oh, do you think so?” Ryan replied, his smile broadening as he leaned closer to kiss Lester senseless.<br/><br/>Ten minutes later when they walked down the stairs, the house was quiet and there was no sign of Miss Dobson or Mr Fenton, but the lights in the dining room were on and the door was open so they headed towards it.<br/><br/>In the large dining room, Miss Dobson was finishing setting the table for two and while they were thanking the nice woman again, Mr Fenton came in carrying the promised light dinner for them.<br/><br/>Not wanting to keep them up too late, Lester assured Miss Dobson they weren’t going to stay up late that night.<br/><br/>“It’s been a long week and a long journey,” he explained, omitting the fact that he had slept through most of it. “It’ll be an early night for us today.”<br/><br/>Miss Dobson insisted they could stay as long as they wanted in the dining room or go to the library afterwards, and after warmly wishing them a good night, she left with Mr Fenton to let them have a peaceful dinner.<br/><br/>As they had told Miss Dobson, it didn’t take them long to finish and soon they were ready to go. Lester considered for a moment the idea of having a drink in the library, but as they walked closer to the other room, he heard some footsteps and a tapping sound inside and he guessed the other couple was there since they surely had already had dinner some time ago.<br/><br/>“Do you want to meet the other guests?” Lester whispered to Ryan. “Or do you want to go directly to our room?”<br/><br/>“Do you even have to ask?” Ryan said, taking Lester’s hand to guide him towards the stairwell.<br/><br/>Lester chuckled and as they walked up the stairs, he thought he was really going to enjoy their weekend in the countryside.<br/><br/></p>

<p></p><div>
  <p>***</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><p><br/>The next morning, they decided to go for a walk in the forest that surrounded the house after a delicious late breakfast.<br/><br/>They had been eating alone again and Miss Dobson had informed them that the other guests had woken up much earlier and would be gone for the day to visit a local tourist spot.<br/><br/>“I almost thought you were going to skip breakfast today,” she added with a glint in her eyes.<br/><br/>Lester felt himself blush a little remembering the reason why they had been late for breakfast and a quick glance at Ryan let him see that the soldier, who was hiding a smile behind his coffee mug, had already noticed it.<br/><br/>“We’ve thought we could go for a walk in the woods this morning, if that’s all right?” Lester told her, changing the subject.<br/><br/>“It’s perfectly fine, the forest is part of the property and there is a nice track that goes through it and around the lake,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about trespassing or hunters. Hunting has been banned on this property for many, many years.”<br/><br/>Well wrapped up in their winter coats, they followed the track mentioned by Miss Dobson and had a nice time simply walking side by side in silence. The forest was old and dense, and it was clear that, although it had been taken care of, it had been untouched by human greed for a long time.<br/><br/>The old trees had kept their place while the track had been forced to make twists and turns around them. The birds sang carelessly, obviously used to being safe in their branches and when Lester turned around, alerted by a rustling sound, he had time to see a scrap of reddish fur disappearing between the bushes, which told him there were bigger animals than birds living peacefully in that forest.<br/><br/>The walk was long and very relaxing, but they made their way back to the house early, not wanting to be late to lunch as well. As they were walking up to their room to change before lunch, Lester caught a glimpse of a young woman walking along the righthand side of corridor. She was wearing an old-fashioned maid’s dress, her long red hair knotted tidily up her pale neck, but by the time they reached the top of the stairs she had disappeared around a corner.<br/><br/>Once in the dining room the copious lunch was served by Miss Dobson herself and Lester couldn’t stop himself from asking about the maid.<br/><br/>“This is a great lunch, Miss Dobson, thank you very much,” he said. “You’re an excellent cook and a very busy woman. I hope the lady we saw upstairs helps you with the kitchen too, it looks like an awful lot of work for just one person.”<br/><br/>Miss Dobson looked slightly nervous, much to Lester’s surprise.<br/><br/>“We saw a young lady upstairs, the maid, I guessed,” Lester explained.<br/><br/>“Oh, yes, Martha,” Miss Dobson said, looking relieved. “She does help me with the cooking sometimes, but she usually takes care of the cleaning and other chores too heavy for me.”<br/><br/>Although she was smiling again, she still looked slightly nervous and Lester couldn’t bring himself to keep questioning the poor woman. The place was obviously under-staffed and she probably didn’t want to bring attention to that in front of their guests.<br/><br/>“As I said, this is delicious, Miss Dobson,” he added, politely. “Thank you very much again.”<br/><br/>After lunch, it was suggested that they had a drink in the library and they gladly accepted.<br/><br/>The place was spectacular, with an old wall to wall wooden bookcase, a set of comfortable armchairs and the promised drinks cabinet, full of nice, expensive liquor. The room had a burning fireplace and a double glass door that opened to a terrace that led to the beautiful gardens at the back of the house.<br/><br/>Everything in the room looked like an antique, even the ebony cane with a silver sculpted man’s head as a handle that was in the umbrella stand by the door. When Lester got closer to the bookshelves, though, he noticed with some disappointment that many of the books were, in fact, hollow decorative covers of classic books.<br/><br/>“Maybe they keep the more valuable books safe in a different place, away from the guests,” Ryan suggested.<br/><br/>“Or maybe they’ve been forced to sell them, like some other things,” Lester said.<br/><br/>He had noticed that some of the rooms in the house were sparsely furnished. Even if the pieces of furniture that were there seemed as old and valuable as the house itself, the truth was that quite a few pieces seemed to be missing.<br/><br/>“Actually, Jenny did mention that the owner was considering selling the place,” Ryan said. “That it was too expensive to maintain and it didn’t attract enough guests. Maybe you could make an offer, if you like it here,” he added, jokingly.<br/><br/>“Hmm, it might be a good idea,” Lester replied, pretending to consider it seriously. “Depending on how the rest of the weekend goes, of course.”<br/><br/>It was indeed a wonderful place. If only he could stay there forever, Lester thought.<br/><br/></p>

<p></p><div>
  <p>***</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><p><br/>Fortunately, the afternoon was dry and not too cold so they decided to visit a medieval church within walking distance.<br/><br/>Although it had never been part of Wildfell Manor, they had been informed there was a path that linked the property with the small church, so they had a nice walk admiring the landscape on their way there.<br/><br/>The church sat on a low hill, overlooking the fields around it as it had done for many centuries. The stone building looked like a mix of different styles, but it was a lovely construction that had been restored with taste and care through the years and it was a place worth seeing.<br/><br/>After the visit to the church, they stopped nearby to eat the dinner Miss Dobson had packed for them. When they had told her they were going to go sightseeing and they wouldn’t be back for a meal, she had warned them there wasn’t a pub or restaurant in the vicinity and she had insisted on making them some sandwiches and hadn’t accepted no for an answer.<br/><br/>Sitting on a rock while eating a delicious ham sandwich, Lester felt the most relaxed he had been in years. He looked at Ryan and smiled gratefully at him. If it hadn’t been for him, Lester would have probably been checking some work files at home in the morning and worrying about them later in the evening even if his wonderful boyfriend had been around, something that, to his shame, had happened more than once.<br/><br/>They resumed their walk shortly after, making their way back to Wildfell Manor. The sky was starting to get dark as they got back to the house, but they were in no hurry, so they decided to have a walk through the back garden before going inside.<br/><br/>As they reached the first rose bushes, Lester looked at the house and saw a blonde woman in a blue coat standing on a balcony on the first floor.<br/><br/>“It looks like the other guests are back,” Lester said.<br/><br/>Even in the dim light, Lester noticed that the woman didn’t seem to be looking at them, her eyes apparently focussed on something beyond the garden. Following her gaze, Lester noticed something moving near the first line of trees of the forest. It was difficult to see clearly in the distance, but Lester was almost sure the little figure was a small fox. The creature nervously moved a few steps forward, towards the garden, only to retreat into the safety of the trees a few seconds later, hopping slightly.<br/><br/>When Lester turned again to look at the house, the woman had already gone back inside, probably because of the cold night air that Lester himself was starting to notice, even wearing the thick coat.<br/><br/>“Should we go back inside?” he suggested.<br/><br/>Ryan nodded lightly, still glancing at the trees where the fox was hiding, and they both turned around to walk towards the front door.<br/>Once inside, the house greeted them with the comfortable silence that Lester had already learned to expect and appreciate.<br/><br/>“You know, Tom, I really like this house,” he said, musing out loud as they headed towards the stairwell. “I would very much love to own a place like this, where we could escape from the city, from crazy misfits and stupid politicians and... well, other work-related annoyances.”<br/><br/>“Yes, I get the idea,” Ryan said, looking at him fondly. “And the feeling.”<br/><br/>Lester couldn’t help himself, he turned as they reached the bottom of the stairs, and kissed Ryan slowly, as if they had all the time in the world. He was so lost in the feeling of Ryan’s lips against his that he barely registered the sound of footsteps nearby and the tap-tap of a cane.<br/><br/>When they broke the kiss and Lester turned around, though, all he got to see was the door of the library closing.<br/><br/>The door of the dining room was ajar, and they could see the room was dark, no sign of Miss Dobson or Mr Fenton this time, but they had got back quite late so there was no reason for them to be waiting, especially after they had told them it wasn’t necessary.<br/><br/>“A quick drink before bed?” he asked.<br/><br/>They had said there weren’t having dinner at the house that night, but surely they could join the other guests for a drink before going back to their room.<br/><br/>“Why not?” Ryan agreed. “No need to avoid the other guests forever and I’m sure there’s enough alcohol for everybody.”<br/><br/>They walked towards the library, but then Ryan halted and reached for his phone.<br/><br/>“Go ahead, I’ll go up to leave this thing charging,” he said, frowning at the screen.<br/><br/>“Now, who is the one constantly checking his phone?”<br/><br/>“I’m not doing it ‘constantly’,” Ryan replied. “But I want to be sure we can receive a message if something really urgent comes up. I did tell them not to call us unless the Buckingham Palace is being attacked by a T. rex or something like that. Not probable, but you never know.”<br/><br/>Lester shuddered at the thought, making Ryan laugh lightly.<br/><br/>“Don’t worry, James, I’m sure it won’t get to that,” he said smiling. “Go ahead and pour a drink for me, I’ll be back in five,” he added as he turned to go up the stairs.<br/><br/>Lester walked towards the library and straightened his back as he grabbed the doorknob. Time to find out if the guests were just shy or the kind of people to be offended by the sight of two men kissing, he thought as he opened the door.<br/><br/>As soon as he walked in, Lester saw that inside the room there was only one man, sitting in one of the armchairs, but since it was turned to face the glass doors of the terrace, all Lester could see was the back of his head and his hand, which was holding the cane with the silver handle Lester had noticed the day before. The woman they had seen on the balcony had to be up in their room, Lester guessed, maybe having called it a day.<br/><br/>“Good evening,” Lester said as he nonchalantly walked past the chair and directly towards the drinks cabinet. “A good time for a drink after a long day, isn’t it?”<br/><br/>The only answer he got was the slow tapping of the cane on the carpet. Quite rude, Lester thought, keeping his back purposely turned to the man.<br/><br/>The room was warm, the still glowing embers on the fireplace showing that somebody had kept it lit until not long ago.<br/><br/>Lester tried again to make some small talk as he poured two glasses of whisky, but still got nothing aside from the annoying tapping sound. He didn’t get a word out of the man, not even as he commented on the excellent quality of the spirits so he decided not to insist on idle chatter.<br/><br/>Deliberately ignoring the rude man in the armchair, Lester kept staring ahead as he sipped at his drink, but then a brief flicker in the reflection of the glass door caught his attention and when he focussed on it, Lester noticed he could see the man reflected on the glass. He was sitting on the armchair, wearing an old-fashioned suit, but what surprised Lester was the look of hatred on the man’s face.<br/><br/>Lester turned around immediately to face him, his surprise turning to shock when he found himself standing face to face with the man, who was just one step away from him.<br/><br/>It was impossible, Lester thought, bewildered, the man had been sitting down on the other side of the room just a second ago. Lester had enough time to see the cane propped against the armrest of the chair before the man put his hands around Lester’s neck and started squeezing relentlessly.<br/><br/>Lester dropped the glass he had been holding and tried to loosen the grip on his neck, but the man’s hands were as cold and hard as marble and his efforts were useless.<br/><br/>Lester couldn’t breathe and couldn’t shout for help, all he could do was to stare at the man’s piercing eyes as he choked him. The man’s face was terribly ashen, and the skin was peeling away in places like an old coat of paint over a mouldy wall; the suit that had once surely looked expensive was torn at the seams and smelled of decay. Everything about him looked dead, except for the ghastly eyes that were very much alive, the hatred that burned in them keeping them bright and focussed.<br/><br/>The spectre lifted Lester as if he weighed nothing, making him stand on tiptoe while the grasp on his neck tightened even more. Lester’s sight was starting to get blurry when suddenly the door of the library burst open.<br/><br/>“James!”<br/><br/>The moment Ryan’s voice echoed in the library a gust of wind blew through the room and in an instant the spectre disintegrated into tiny specks of dust that flew around the room. The violence of the wind made the terrace doors shake as Lester fell to the floor, gasping for air, and Ryan wasted no time in rushing to his side.<br/><br/>“James, are you OK?” Ryan asked as he knelt by his side.<br/><br/>Lester sat up slowly and saw some of the books starting to move on their shelves, but still short of breath, he couldn’t warn Ryan in time. When the books started flying across the room, though, Ryan didn’t seem to need more hints and he grabbed Lester’s arm to help him up and half-carried him out of the library as fast as he could.<br/><br/>As soon as they got out of the room, the door slammed shut behind them violently and when they reached the hall, they found Mr Fenton there with an alarmed expression on his face.<br/><br/>“What happened?” he asked, sounding worried.<br/><br/>“I... somebody attacked me,” Lester explained, still breathless.<br/><br/>“The woman upstairs warned me I should go back down immediately, that you were in danger,” Ryan said, brow furrowed in confusion and anger. “But I thought-“<br/><br/>“What woman?” Mr Fenton asked immediately.<br/><br/>Lester noticed Ryan’s expression, the way his lips twisted slightly before answering and he recognised it from the early days of the ARC project, when they were still finding it hard to believe the things they were seeing.<br/><br/>“There was a woman in the corridor, right next to our room,” the soldier explained. “We saw her on the balcony when we were in the garden... We thought she was one of the other guests...”<br/><br/>Miss Dobson had also come to the hall while they talked to Mr Fenton and she was now looking at him in concern as she held onto her woollen shawl as if it was armour.<br/><br/>“And she talked to you?” was Mr Fenton’s puzzling reply.<br/><br/>“Well,... yes, yes she did, of course,” Ryan said, looking confused.<br/><br/>Without any more words, Mr Fenton turned to the stairwell and started walking up the stairs with determination. They stared as the old man disappeared from their sight as he turned left on the corridor, his footsteps still echoing around the house.<br/><br/>Still shocked by what had happened in the library, Lester looked at Miss Dobson, who was crumpling the ends of the shawl nervously. She stared back at him, her expression deeply worried.<br/><br/>“Miss Dobson, what’s happening here?” Lester asked, trying to keep calm. “Somebody tried to kill me in that room... and it wasn’t one of the guests, was it?”<br/><br/>Shocked by his words, she simply shook her head slowly, looking on the verge of tears.<br/><br/>“The other guests aren’t here tonight,” Miss Dobson explained after a moment. “They called to tell us they were going to be out for the night at some Halloween party in a town nearby.”<br/><br/>It seemed like she was going to add something more, but then they heard Mr Fenton coming back and she stopped herself.<br/><br/>“Bring our guests to the kitchen, Mary, they surely want something hot to drink while we talk,” he said to Miss Dobson as he walked down the stairs.<br/><br/>After exchanging a worried look, Ryan and Lester started following her to the kitchen, eager to hear what they had to say. It took Lester a moment to notice, though, that instead of walking after them, Mr Fenton had started walking towards the library.<br/><br/>“Where are you going?” Lester asked, alarmed.<br/><br/>“There’s one more thing I have to do, I’ll be there in a minute,” he replied curtly as he opened the door and walked in.<br/><br/>Everything seemed calm as far as Lester could see, no noises or gusts of wind and certainly no sign of anybody waiting there, but the moment the old man stepped inside, the door slammed shut behind him.<br/><br/>They rushed to the library, but when they tried to get inside, the door wouldn’t open. Ryan threw himself against the wooden door, but it just shook on its hinges and refused to budge.<br/><br/>“I’m not scared of you!” Mr Fenton’s voice was muffled, but clear enough to be heard outside the room.<br/><br/>“Mr Fenton!” Lester shouted. “You have to get out of there!”<br/><br/>“The door on the terrace!” Ryan said as he rushed towards the front door.<br/><br/>Surely the glass door wouldn’t resist their efforts to get inside the room, no matter what or who was trying to keep them out, Lester thought as he followed Ryan.<br/><br/>They had barely reached the front door when the sound of glass shattering stopped them in their tracks. A few bumps and the sound of something heavy falling to the floor followed and then nothing, just silence.<br/><br/>Miss Dobson took a hesitant step towards the library, but before she could grab the knob, the door opened and Mr Fenton walked out of the room with a few scratches on his face, but otherwise unharmed.<br/><br/>“I told you to wait for me in the kitchen,” he said grumpily as they stared wide-eyed at him.<br/><br/>The man took a deep breath, his shoulders slumping noticeably, and Miss Dobson put a comforting hand on his arm as she smiled at him gently.<br/><br/>“I think we all should go to the kitchen and have a hot drink, Mr Fenton,” she said as she glanced at her guests. “We have a lot to talk about.”<br/><br/>They all agreed quietly and followed her into the kitchen without any more questions.<br/><br/></p>

<p></p><div>
  <p>***</p>
</div><div>
  <p> </p>
</div><p><br/>The kitchen was large and well-equipped. They had kept some of the old furniture, like the iron stove and a large porcelain sink, but they had also added some modern equipment like a fridge and a microwave and there was still room for a big table in the middle and a few chairs. They all sat down while they tried to regain their calm.<br/><br/>Once they all had a cup of tea in their hands, Lester expected Mr Fenton or Miss Dobson to start explaining everything, but the minutes passed in silence.<br/><br/>“Well,...” Lester eventually started after clearing his throat. “I would very much like to know what the hell happened there, if you’ll excuse my language.”<br/><br/>He could still feel the man’s hands on his neck, which was surely going to be bruised tomorrow morning, and his patience was running thin.<br/><br/>“I’ll have to go back to the library in a while,” Mr Fenton said to Miss Dobson, ignoring Lester’s words.<br/><br/>She looked alarmed and he immediately added, reassuringly, “I simply have to go to put out the fire, I don’t want to leave the fireplace unchecked when we go to bed.”<br/><br/>“There were just some embers when I was there,” Lester said, wondering if the man was trying to find a way out of the conversation. “Surely they’ll cool down soon if they haven’t already.”<br/><br/>“I had to light the fire again,” he replied, looking at him. “But don’t worry, I think I’ll have enough time to tell you the story of this house before I have to go.”<br/><br/>Mr Fenton took a long sip from his tea and then, after glancing briefly at Miss Dobson, he started talking.<br/><br/>“As I told you before, this house had been in the Wakefield family for generations, but a few decades ago, the lady of the house died with no children to inherit the place and it went to a very distant relative who barely visited it for years. Eventually, their descendants decided to turn it into a hotel, expecting to make some money.”<br/><br/>Nothing new there, Lester thought, but he kept quiet and waited for the man to continue.<br/><br/>“I’ve worked here since I was a very young man and Miss Dobson has spent many years here as well. I imagine we were lucky the new owners decided to keep us employed here when it became a hotel, eh, Miss Dobson?” he added, looking at her with a sad smile.<br/><br/>Miss Dobson didn’t return the smile, though. The usually cheerful woman had been mostly silent, quietly preparing and serving the cups of tea, and now she simply nodded and turned around to the sink to clean some dishes that could have very well waited until the next day.<br/><br/>After a deep sigh, Mr Fenton continued. “But that’s not the whole story. Lady Wakefield did have a child, a nice young man named Arthur. I knew him well. I was a young boy myself back then and I already worked here sometimes, helping my father in the garden.”<br/><br/>“The lord of the house had died shortly after Arthur was born and he was everything to his mother. She was a nice lady, kind and fair, and the young master took after her, but unfortunately, his uncle John, his father’s younger brother, was exactly the opposite. There were rumours, some of them not suitable for young ears like mine, but I heard pieces here and there and I knew that he was a dissolute man and looked at Wildfell Manor with greedy eyes, but young master Arthur was going to inherit everything one day, if his fragile health allowed it.”<br/><br/>“I’m sure that man was waiting for an illness to take Arthur, but the master was a fighter, and her mother had the best doctors by his bedside every time he fell ill. I remember the time Arthur fell from the horse, the way that man’s face brightened for a moment when I told him the news. But Arthur lived. His leg was badly hurt and it never recovered completely, though, he had a noticeable limp for the rest of his life.”<br/><br/>Mr Fenton drank from his cup with a sorrowful expression on his face as he stared into the distance.<br/><br/>“Then that awful day arrived...” he continued, talking slowly as if every word pained him. “His uncle John organised a hunting trip for some friends and asked Arthur to join them.”<br/><br/>“You see, the young master didn’t even like hunting, but his uncle insisted so much the boy finally agreed. I still remember that day, I held his horse as he got ready to mount, his limp more noticeable as he walked closer. He was so nervous, bless him!  I’m sure he just wanted it to be over so he could go back home to one of his books, but the young master never returned alive.”<br/><br/>Although he had been expecting it, Lester shivered.<br/><br/>“A hunting accident, they said,” Mr Fenton scoffed bitterly. “I was young, but I wasn’t blind or stupid, and Lady Wakefield wasn’t either.  And I know that more people thought John had killed the young master on purpose. I still remember the look old doctor Lewis, the family doctor, sent his way when he came to check the boy’s body....” Mr Fenton made a grimace. “The old gentleman looked as if he was ready to punch him. I would have cheered for that!”<br/><br/>Mr Fenton raised his cup with a smirk, but his eyes were full of sadness.<br/><br/>“The lady of the house was devastated, as you could imagine,” he continued after a pause. “And it looked like that awful man had finally got what he had always wanted. He was going to inherit everything in the end, but he couldn’t wait, oh, no, why would he? Just a week after the young master’s funeral he was already showing up at the house unannounced, acting as if everything was already his. It was only fair that he never actually got to inherit anything in the end.”<br/><br/>“Was he accused of the murder of the boy?” Ryan asked. “Did he go to jail?”<br/><br/>“Oh, no, he had a good alibi, the smart rat,” Mr Fenton replied with disgust. “A very good friend of his who was with them on the hunting trip testified it had been just an accident. He couldn’t inherit anything because he died not long after.”<br/><br/>“Lady Wakefield...” Mr Fenton continued hesitantly. “She had been grieving her son, barely eating or going out of her room, but as soon as that man started strolling around the place, she regained some of her old strength and tried to keep that man out of the property. The hatred I saw in her eyes when she looked at him...”<br/><br/>A little sniffle from Miss Dobson distracted them for a moment and Mr Fenton suddenly looked too old and too tired to continue.<br/><br/>“They found him dead in the library one day,” he added, finally gathering the strength to keep going. “Dr Lewis declared it had been a heart attack and they buried him as soon as possible since there was no wife or close relatives that would object. The police weren’t involved and nobody bothered Lady Wakefield with uncomfortable questions, after all, she was a grieving mother. The maids that cleaned the library immediately afterwards and threw away all the drinks and snacks that were there... well, they had been in the lady’s service for many years and had loved young Arthur very much, so they kept their mouths shut,” he said as if it was explanation enough.<br/><br/>And it was indeed, Lester thought shivering again.<br/><br/>“Unfortunately, as you’ve probably guessed, the spirit of that awful man didn’t leave the house,” Mr Fenton continued. “Not long after his death, strange things started happening in the library. Inexplicable gusts of wind, books falling off their shelves... It never got worse than that, that I know of,” he added looking at Lester apologetically. “We wouldn’t have encouraged guests to go into the library otherwise, believe me.”<br/><br/>“I do, Mr Fenton, don’t worry,” Lester said honestly. “Please, do continue.”<br/><br/>Nodding seriously, Mr Fenton kept going. “Lady Wakefield started inviting people to stay in the house less and less often. She also forbade any kind of hunting on the property so very few people visited the area around the house either.”<br/><br/>“The isolation and the sadness made her health worsen. I know people suggested she should leave the house and go to another of her properties, saying that a change of air would do her good, but she always refused.”<br/><br/>“One day, while she was sitting in the back garden all alone, she confided to me the real reason why she wouldn’t leave. I had been helping my father prune the garden and when I saw her there, with such sorrow in her eyes... I was just a boy and I wanted to make her feel better, so I cut a rose from one of the bushes and offered it to her.”<br/><br/>Mr Fenton’ eyes glistened with unshed tears as he remembered that moment.<br/><br/>“She smiled, even if it was just for a moment, and she hugged me tightly. She asked me to sit by her side and while we watched the birds playing in the fountain she told me that she couldn’t leave the house until Arthur came back from the forest.”<br/><br/>“She told me that she had seen his spirit trying to get back to the house at night, but that he never got too close. He always turned around, she told me, and she believed it to be because of John’s angry spirit, refusing to leave the house. John had always wanted it for himself and not even death would convince the greedy bastard to leave, excuse my language, Miss Dobson.”<br/><br/>“I think that, given the circumstances, it’s the appropriate word to use, Mr Fenton,” Miss Dobson replied calmly.<br/><br/>“At first, I thought she had finally lost her mind, but not long after that conversation, one evening, as I was walking through the back garden, I saw something coming from the forest. It was a small fox, nothing out of the extraordinary, but even in the twilight I noticed the limping. You could say it was a coincidence, and I said so to myself that day, but sometime later, I saw the same fox again at night and all through my many years in this house, the same limping fox has appeared repeatedly, coming from the trees of the forest, always trying to reach the house and always turning back, afraid, before succeeding.”<br/><br/>Lester remembered the woman on the balcony and the small fox they had seen that same evening and he felt a knot in his chest.<br/><br/>“The woman we saw on the balcony, the one who talked to me before,” Ryan said. “is she...?”<br/><br/>“She is... the Lady of the house,” Mr Fenton said with a sad smile. “Lady Wakefield passed away in her bed a few years after her son’s death and this time nobody doubted it had been from natural causes. The grief and regret consumed her slowly and her poor body couldn’t hold out any longer. Her spirit, though, decided to stay, waiting for Arthur. Many people have seen her down the years, usually on the balcony, or walking along the corridor. She never gets down here, though.”<br/><br/>“Have you... have you ever tried to talk to her?” Lester asked. “Encouraged her to leave?”<br/><br/>“I’ve never got to talk to her,” Mr Fenton replied bitterly. “She was usually just a vague image that disappeared in the blink of an eye. Sometimes she was seen just once or twice in one year, some other times she was seen by different people on the same day. Never heard of her talking to anybody... until today,” he added looking at Ryan pointedly. “That’s why I went upstairs, hoping it would be the day that I could reach her.”<br/><br/>“And you did, didn’t you?” Lester said on a hunch. “What did she tell you?”<br/><br/>“She told me how to get rid of that evil man once and for all,” he said, squaring his shoulder with pride. “And I did.”<br/><br/>Miss Dobson gasped, and Lester could see her face brighten with hope.<br/><br/>“It seems his twisted soul had attached itself to the silver cane,” Mr Fenton explained. “Lady Wakefield told me to destroy it in the fire so he could no longer hold onto this place and then he would be forced to move on... to the place that’s waiting for him on the other side. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should go and make sure the cane has burned up completely,” he added, standing up. “And if not, I’ll keep adding wood to that fire until it does. I’ll add gasoline if necessary.”<br/><br/>“I’ll go with you, Mr Fenton,” Ryan said, standing up as well. “Just to be sure.”<br/><br/>“We both will,” Lester added, sending a warning look at Ryan before he could protest.<br/><br/>“Then I think it’s better if we all go,” Miss Dobson added.<br/><br/>Mr Fenton looked ready to object, but Miss Dobson had wrapped her shawl tightly around her and was already heading for the kitchen door.<br/><br/>“This has been my home for many years, gentlemen, and that evil spirit has haunted this place for too long. If there’s a chance to get rid of him for good, you can be sure I’ll be there to help, so shall we?” she said, opening the door and walking out of the room.<br/><br/>When they walked into the library, they could see the damage the evil spirit had done in his last fight. There were books lying everywhere and the armchairs had been turned over, one of them lying upside down on the other side of the room. The glass of the terrace door was completely shattered, and the cold air of the night had filled the room, almost putting out the fire in the fireplace.<br/><br/>They took a close look at the embers and there Lester saw the silver sculpted head that had been the handle, the rest of the wooden cane already turned into ashes by the flames. Looking at it closely, Lester noticed with horror that the blackened sculpted head now looked different. The face sculpted in silver was now twisted in agony, the mouth open forever in a silent scream.<br/><br/>After Mr Fenton raked the dying embers and covered them with ash, leaving the handle underneath, they walked out of the library and closed the door behind them.<br/><br/>“You think it worked?” Lester asked Mr Fenton.<br/><br/>“I think it did,” he replied as they walked away. “I hope it did. Then maybe Lady Wakefield will find a way out of this house too and will be able to meet her son again.”<br/><br/>Lester suddenly felt tired to the bone, the events of that night finally getting to him, and he was more than ready to go up to their room. He wasn’t sure he was going to manage to sleep, though.<br/><br/>“We’ll tidy up the library tomorrow,” Miss Dobson said as they reached the stairwell. “Martha and Thomas will help us to fix the rest on Monday. We’ll make up some story to explain the mess to them.”<br/><br/>“Don’t they know about the ghosts?” Lester asked, with curiosity. “You’ve kept this a secret for so many years? Nobody noticed anything?”</p>
<p>“People only see what they want to see.  And even if they see it, sometimes their minds ignore the things that don’t make sense,” Miss Dobson said, shrugging lightly. “People in this area have certainly heard rumours, but they don’t think they’re real. Most of them think it’s just a story made up to attract tourists.”<br/><br/>Ryan scoffed at that and Lester felt he completely related to his reaction.<br/><br/>“Well, I think it’s time for us to go to our room to rest,” Ryan said as he glanced at Lester, worry clear on his face. “If you don’t need us for anything else, that is...”<br/><br/>“No, nothing to do now but rest,” Miss Dobson said kindly. “I think there has been enough excitement for one night.”<br/><br/>They wished each other a good night and Ryan and Lester went up to their room. Lester tensed as they walked along the corridor, but they didn’t see anything out of the ordinary on their way there.<br/><br/>Once inside their room, it didn’t take them long to get ready to go to bed. Exhausted as he was, Lester still couldn’t get himself to lie down and he walked to the window to look at the forest.<br/><br/>Ryan walked towards him as he stared through the window and wrapped his arms around him reassuringly. They spent a few minutes like that, basking in each other’s warmth, and then Lester saw it. A small fox was coming out of the forest and limping towards the house under the full moon. It hesitated, then kept moving forward slowly, closer and closer, until it reached the rose bushes.<br/><br/>It kept moving, but they lost sight of the fox as it got near to the terrace. They walked away from the window, looking at each other without saying a word. Then they heard some faint footsteps along the corridor that soon faded away, but when Ryan made a move towards the door, Lester held the soldier’s arm and shook his head.<br/><br/>“Let’s leave them alone,” Lester said softly. “And let’s hope it’s their time to reunite and finally move on.”<br/><br/>Ryan nodded in understanding, and without any more words, they went to bed. Even though Lester could have sworn he wasn’t going to manage to sleep for a long time, the moment he put his head on the pillow he fell asleep within seconds with Ryan’s comforting arm around his waist.<br/><br/><br/></p>

<p></p><div>
  <p>***</p>
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  <p> </p>
</div><p>The next morning, they stayed in bed for a long time after waking up, simply trying to wrap their heads around the events of the night before.<br/><br/>When they went down for lunch, the other guests were already there, a young couple who looked tired after a long night out, but they still managed to make some polite chatter in between yawns.<br/><br/>They saw Miss Dobson and Mr Fenton in the dining room, but with the other guests around, they opted to make small talk and they simply shared a knowing look when Mr Fenton announced that the library would be closed for the day because of the need for some special cleaning.<br/><br/>Lester and Ryan went out for a walk, not going too far, but just needing some fresh air, and when they came back for lunch, the other couple was already packing to leave, so soon they were the only guests in the house once again.<br/><br/>After a nice lunch, Lester and Ryan sat down with Mr Fenton and Miss Dobson for a cup of coffee and they shared what they had seen from their room last night.<br/><br/>“Do you think Lady Wakefield has finally been reunited with her son?” Lester asked.<br/><br/>“Only time will tell for sure, I guess,” Mr Fenton replied. “But I’m hopeful.”<br/><br/>Miss Dobson and Mr Fenton shared happier memories of their time in that house with their guests and sometime later, it was finally time for Ryan and Lester to pack and leave.<br/><br/>They said goodbye warmly to each other and, before leaving, Lester asked them to keep him informed about how things went at Wildfell Manor in the future, hoping the news would only confirm their suspicion that all the ghosts in the house had finally found a way to move on.<br/><br/>As they drove away, Lester took a last look at the house and the surrounding forest and wondered if anybody would believe them if they told them the tragic story of the unfortunate souls that once inhabited Wildfell Manor.</p>
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<p>END</p>
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